A few weeks ago we had some brake work done by Monro Muffler. Since my husband only drives a short distance to work, we did not notice this problem until two weeks after the work was done.
When driving the car over 60 mph, the rear of the van shakes - you can actually see the rear seats shaking from the rear view mirror.
Today we had the tires rotated and balanced and this did not take care of the situation.
Any suggestions/comments would be appreciated.
Thanks
A couple of questions…
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Would you please give the make, model, year, engine (if you know), miles, automatic/manual transmission?
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Since it took two weeks after the brake work before going 60+, how long was it before the brake work was it that the vehicle went 60+? Was it the day it went in, 2 weeks before, don’t remember, etc? In other words, how are you sure the shaking is related to the brake service, or aren’t you?
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How were the tires rotated? Were front tires moved to the rear and rear tires to the front? More importantly, were both rear tires moved up front?
The shaking rear seats is a helpful clue. The balance and rotation you had done was a good idea, if they rotated front to rear and rear to front, and should help our field of “experts” narrow it down.
We really need some answers from you before we make wild guesses, like a bad tire if the rotation rules it out, or bad universal joints in a drive shaft, if you don’t even have a drive shaft! We will know if you answer the questions.
Please respond and we’ll take it from there!
This is a 2003 Toyota Sienna (V6 3000 Four cam 24) manual transmission with 103,000 miles on it.
Two days prior to the brake work and traveling 60 mph, I did not notice the vibration.
The tires were balanced and rotated from back to rear (Rear to front) on the same side - all four tires were totated. The tires are BF Goodrich Touring T/A - P215/65R15 and were purchased new this past July 2008. They were rotated yesterday after having 4,000 miles on them.
Brake work on the van prior to the noticeable vibration included brake pads (front) and brake shoes (rear), brake drums (rear).
Thank you.
I would call the brake shop, explain the vibration and ask if they turned or replaced the rear brake drums. If they did either of these tell them that you suspect the vibration might be coming from a problem with brake drums. They should tell you to bring it back in for them to have a look. If that happens, and they say they want to do something else (meaning charge you to do more work) thank them and see below.
If they didn’t turn or replace the drums, or they want to do more work, I would thank them anyway and then take the van to a local, reputable, independent shop and explain the whole thing to them.
In short, you can get this kind of thing from the rear brake drums beings a bit out of round.
Thanks For The Info.
Rear brake drums have been suggested as a culprit. There really aren’t a lot of other moving (turning) parts back there except wheels/tires and they went up front (if they were the problem then the shaking should have moved to the front, too). Parts a little worn from age and use can make things worse. However, you state this started just after the brake work.
The main thing I would want to know could be checked by raising each rear tire off the ground, one at a time or both together, it doesn’t matter. Holding a “fixed” object almost in contact with the side of each each spinning tire, I would want to know if they move noticeably side-to-side. Also with a fixed object almost contacting the center of the tread of the spinning tire, I would want to know if there were high and low spots as opposed to a nice “even” spinning surface. If one side was “out” quite a bit, I would check the spin on a wheel balancer. If it is OK on the balancer then it could be a drum as admitted amateur suggested.